France centre Tony Marsh slides in to score
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Matches: Scotland 10 - 22 France

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: France | Scotland

France stayed on course for Grand Slam with a convincing 22-10 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

Scotland wrecked the defence which had seemed so impregnable against England three weeks ago, finding gaps with amazing regularity yet consistently failing to finish.

Though French skipper Fabien Galthie was again at his brilliant best, Scottish counterpart Bryan Redpath lost nothing in comparison and there were exceptional displays from half a dozen home players which met with no reward.

Two tries in four minutes at the start of the second period effectively sealed a French win.

Galthie's brilliant blindside burst, followed by the second of a Tony Marsh brace, left Scotland with too much to do.

And though Redpath breathed new life into the game with a close range score, Scotland still couldn't summon up the firepower to match their approach work.

As ever, much of the focus will again centre around the contribution of Gregor Townsend, who equalled the Scottish caps record but marked his 65th international with only sporadic influences.

Scotland had come into this game as makeweights on an afternoon when France were supposed to stroll away with victory on their seemingly unstoppable march to the title.

Yet they have been in this position for the past two seasons and on each occasion emerged victorious, first to the frustration of England, then last year to Ireland's regret.

The selection of the Leslie brothers Martin and John represented a more combative defensive approach, but it was in attack where Scotland did the most damage.

Redpath, Chris Paterson and Glenn Metcalfe all found gaping holes in a French rearguard which had been absolutely watertight in Paris.

James McLaren got to within an inch of the line and Scott Murray was not much further away when he was ankle tapped.

But on none of these occasions did Scotland manage to collect any points.

Again it was a combination of basic handling errors, lack of support or sheer misfortune, but the times when Scotland fail to capitalise on attacking chances are growing by the game and if they are ever to be credible challengers at the top level, McGeechan must fashion a more clinical edge.

Scotland had taken the lead in the seventh minute when Brendan Laney confidently swatted over a simple penalty, but that was about all the Kiwi full-back had to smile about.

Laney's lack of pace was twice horribly exposed by the flying French back division.

Fellow New Zealander Marsh was the first to profit after an horrendous blunder by Simon Taylor.

Scotland had enjoyed one of their more dominant periods when Taylor attempted to scoop up possession from a scrum just inside their own half.

The Lions number eight fumbled, the French forwards piled forward, Galthie fizzed a pass out to Damien Traille, who sent his centre partner into open space with only Laney to beat.

The race to the line was a mismatch, as it was for the try which effectively killed the game four minutes after the interval.

This time it was Galthie, such a thorn in England's side in Paris, who spotted a gap down the blindside of a ruck, sped round and then left Laney for dead down the right wing.

Galthie's effort came just two minutes after Marsh had collected his second touchdown, strolling over from Jean-Jaques Crenca's pass after Scotland's defences had been stretched trying to chase down Gerald Merceron's kick.

Marsh should have had a hat-trick, but unselfishly tried to set up Aurelien Rougerie on the right wing with barely a defender in sight.

Rougerie though could not collect the ball.

After his defensive disasters, Laney owed Scotland something in attack and provided it with a sidestepping run deep into French territory which ended just short but saw Redpath nudge the ball an inch forward to claim the try.

Laney's conversion threatened a big comeback, especially as France had completely lost their shape and were throwing ambitious passes around with no respect for the scoreline.

But try as they might, Scotland couldn't muster another touchdown.

Stuart Grimes knocked-on with a gaping hole in front of him, Redpath broke clear and was collared with no support and in the final act of the afternoon Paterson shot down the left wing but he was bundled into touch.